Simon Jones
Finding a web hosting company that will provide you everything you need to have a successful website can be hard. They either don’t offer the services you will need or will cost an absolute fortune every month!
Well, welcome to your saving grace! We have done all the hard work done for you and have put together a list of all the best cheap UK web hosting providers you need to consider.
We will be discussing the best cheap hosting provider packages as shared hosting, the great starter option for getting a website online.
It’s an excellent way of keeping your costs down, as you are sharing the web server with other website users. This works wonders in your favour, as the cost of the server is split between the users.
Shared hosting is the most popular web hosting for a lot of website users in 2021. It is such an affordable way to begin web hosting, and the features provided are the basis of what you will need to get your foot in the door of creating a website, all without being overwhelming or too complicated.
In this article we have broken down the best hosting providers packages and their features, including uptime figures, speed/page loading times, customer support, and free features.
Best Cheap UK Web Hosting Guide Overview
All of the hosting providers’ shared hosting packages offer such great value for money, with prices coming under £3.50 per month!
Now, you may be thinking, “But that’s too good to be true”, or, “Yeah, but I don’t get anything I need for my website to run properly”.
So let us put your mind at ease and let’s take a look at the best cheap hosting providers for UK users.
Hostinger Best Overall Cheap Host
Bluehost #2 Rated Cheap host
A2 Hosting #3 cheap Hosting
Hostgator Great value option
Hostpapa PERFECT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Dreamhost Great Customer Support
IONOS Best UK Based Budget option
iPage Great Features
Namecheap Great For Domains
123-Reg Good For Beginners
How We Choose the Best Cheap Web Hosting Companies
We used our rigorous research approach to generate this list. To determine our ratings, each web host was tested and analysed based on the following criteria:
Let’s take a look in more detail of the best cheap web hosts, and for bonus advice on how to choose the best one for you!
The 10 Best Cheap UK Web Hosting Providers
#1. Hostinger – Best Overall Cheap Hosting
Hostinger Pros
Hostinger Cons
Hostinger definitely comes out on the top of our list of the cheapest of the cheap hosting provider in 2020. Offering an incredible price for a 36-month contract, it’d be hard to pass by if you’re looking to save some cash. Their low price does not affect the quality nor features they provide, so don’t put them in the ‘cheap and nasty’ bucket.
Hostinger Key Features
Hostinger has great uptime and page loading times which are still very much in line with the competitors. Features include 10GB storage, free SSL certificate, 10,000 monthly visitors, 100GB bandwidth, the option for managed WordPress, and WordPress acceleration. Hostinger provides excellent and knowledgeable 24/7 customer support to resolve any issues quickly and effectively.
Hostinger Pricing
While their cheapest plan does come with some limitations, such as no free domain name, limits on storage, bandwidth, email accounts, then Hostinger’s Premium Shared Hosting plan is still very much in the ballpark figures of the competitors if you require more freedom on features.
Single Shared Web Hosting: from £0.99 per month – 36 month plan
Premium Shared Web Hosting: from £1.99 per month – 36 month plan
Business Shared Web Hosting: from £3.99 per month – 36 month plan
All plans come with a free SSL certificate, managed WordPress and a 30 day money back guarantee.
#2. Bluehost – Best for Customer Support
Bluehost Pros
Bluehost Cons
You may have seen or heard about Bluehost while on your cheap web hosting travels because it is one of the three hosting providers recommended by WordPress.org. They provide quality uptime, fast page loading times, and competitive pricing, which are factors contributing to their impressive 3,000,000+ websites hosted around the world.
Bluehost Key Features
Bluehost is a popular and versatile hosting provider for any website, from blog to eCommerce store. They offer free features such as domain name, SSL Certificate, and content delivery network (CDN), allowing for increased speed and performance through their globally distributed servers.
Access to one-click installs of WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal is available through the cPanel. Bluehost’s basic shared hosting plan comes with 50GB storage, while all other plans are unlimited. They have a responsive 24/7 customer and technical support team available by phone, email, live chat, or tickets—a reliable and secure hosting provider, great for entry-level websites.
Bluehost Pricing
With Bluehost, you have the choice of 4 different plans: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro. The basic plan starts at £2.96 a month for a 36-month introductory plan. Bluehost should definitely be on your short list when comparing best cheap UK web hosting providers..
Basic: from £2.96 per month – 36 month plan
Plus: from £4.08 per month – 36 month plan
Choice Plus: from £4.08 per month – 36 month plan
Pro: from £10.44 per month – 36 month plan
All plans come with a free SSL certificate, free domain name, free CDN and a 30 day money back guarantee.
#3. A2 Hosting – Fastest Cheap Hosting
A2 Hosting Pros
A2 Hosting Cons
A2 Hosting Key Features
A2 Hosting has impressive page loading times; however, their ‘Turbo Servers’ are recommended to be 20x faster than other servers and only available on their more expensive plans. With their A2 optimised software allowing better performance and 1-click installs of WordPress, Drupal, and more, it can be an option in the cheap hosting provider search.
The uptime of A2 Hosting is not quite as competitive as its rivals, averaging about 6 hours of downtime a year. They offer some excellent customer support, and the knowledgeable ‘Guru Crew Support’ team is available 24/7 through live chat, email, phone or tickets, to help you with your needs.
A2 Hosting Pricing
A2 Hosting’s cheapest plan ‘Startup’, has many great features such as a free SSL certificate, domain name, 100GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, and perpetual security, including firewalls and virus scanning to keep your website and server safe.
Startup: from £1.83 per month – 36 month plan
Drive: from £3.13 per month – 36 month plan
Turbo Boost: from £4.41 per month – 36 month plan
Turbo Max: from £9.57 per month – 36 month plan
All plans come with a free SSL certificate, free CDN and a 30 day money back guarantee.
#4. Hostgator – Best Budget VPS Host
Hostgator Pros
Hostgator Cons
Hostgator Key Features
Hostgator’s Hatching Plan offers some flexible free features, including a domain name, SSL certificate, email addresses, website migration and transfers, and unmetered bandwidth. All of these features are great to have when beginning your website’s hosting and their free website builder complements their eCommerce features by creating an easy to use drag and drop system.
One-click installs of WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and Magento so you will never be short of software options for your website. Hostgator has a 30-day website migration period if you’re looking to transfer a website from a previous hosting provider and have a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Hostgator Pricing
Hostgator has been in the game for over a decade, powering over 2,000,000 websites, and still comes out a powerful competitor against other hosting providers. Their shared hosting plans are very affordable for someone looking to host their website. They provide strong uptime and are priced towards the cheapest end of our shared hosting lists.
Hatchling Plan: from £2.01 per month – 36 month plan
Baby Plan: from £2.56 per month – 36 month plan
Business Plan: from £3.84 per month – 36 month plan
All plans come with a free SSL certificate, free domain name, free transfers, 1-click WordPress and a 30 day money back guarantee.
#5. Hostpapa – Best For E-Commerce Websites
Hostpapa Pros
Hostpapa Cons
Hostpapa Key Features
With stable uptime (99.90%) and competitive page loading times (0.90s), HostPapa provides features for a wide variety of websites, including eCommerce, portfolios, blogs, and more. With a free domain name, 100GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, cPanel access, free website transfers, and access to over 400 1-click installs, their cheapest plan, ‘Starter’, is certainly one to consider. Offering some excellent and helpful tutorial videos to get your website up and running and guiding you through the web hosting process and any other questions you may have,
Hostpapa Pricing
A great choice for a small business startup and supporting a wide range of 1-click applications, HostPapa provides quality for an affordable price. HostPapa has a 30-day guarantee in their refund policy but will charge a setup fee if you cancel within the 30-days. A little food for thought, but an excellent cheap hosting provider to use if you’re just getting started.
Starter: from £1.73 per month – 36 month plan
Buisness: from £1.73 per month – 36 month plan
Buisness Pro: from £8.95 per month – 36 month plan
All plans come with a free website transfer, unmetered bandwidth, free Cloudflare CDN and a 30 day money back guarantee.
#6. Dreamhost – Best Monthly Billing Hosting
Dreamhost Pros
Dreamhost Cons
Dreamhost Key Features
Dreamhost is another hosting provider recommended by WordPress.org. Dreamhost features include a free domain name, free SSL certificate, unlimited traffic, unmetered bandwidth, 50GB storage, WordPress pre-installed, and an ever-so-handy WordPress website builder.
Also, offering an impressive 97-day refund policy, you can really test out the hosting service and make sure it’s the right fit for you. While they don’t have 24/7 customer support available, you can access them in live chat during business hours or use their 24/7 ticket support, and they will get in touch with you as soon as they can, which can be particularly hard being a UK user in a different timezone.
Dreamhost Pricing
Unlike most hosting providers who jack up the renewal price after your contract ends, Dreamhost doesn’t. The price you buy your plan at is how it stays, which can be a nice touch when determining your website’s budget.
Shared Starter: from £1.92 per month – 36 month plan
Shared Unlimited: from £2.93 per month – 36 month plan
All plans come with a free SSL certificate, free domain, WordPress pre-installed and a WP website builder.
#7. IONOS – Best for Extra Features
IONOS Pros
IONOS Cons
IONOS Key Features
Previously known as 1&1, IONOS has some affordable shared hosting options. Offering a wide range of features from unlimited storage, unlimited databases, unlimited websites, 50 email addresses, SSL certificate, domain name, daily backups, and access to over 70 1-click install applications.
IONOS uptime and page loading times are quite competitive with other hosting providers. They have created their own custom backend instead of using the cPanel interface, which may take a little getting used to. Paired with their responsive 24/7 customer service and articles written on key services, you should have no problems.
IONOS Pricing
IONOS plans can be a little confusing, their cheapest 12-month contract plan on Linux hosting works out to be the ‘Business’ plan? After the 12-month contract expires, the Business renewal plan will be £5.00 —just something you may want to take note of for future reference.
Buisness: from £1.00 per month – 12 month plan
Pro: from £1.00 per month – 6 month plan
Expert: from £1.00 per month – 6 month plan
All plans come with a free domain for a year, 1-click WordPress and a 30 day money back guarantee.
#8. iPage – Best for Small Websites
iPage Pros
iPage Cons
iPage Key Features
Coming in at quite a budget hosting provider, iPage offers some incredible features for the price you pay. A free domain name, free SSL Certificate, unlimited websites to host, unlimited storage, free email address, and scalable bandwidth are provided on their cheapest hosting plan.
With many user-friendly tools such as their iPage website builder, 1-click WordPress installs, hundreds of templates you can create your website, and 24/7 customer support, it can be a hosting provider to consider if you’re just getting started.
While they use a vdeck control panel, some people may find it not as functional and controllable as the most popular cPanel most hosting providers use. IPage has features for selling online, including an online store, Paypal integration, and 1-click installers. Their enhanced security suite offers great technology for keeping your server and website safe.
iPage Pricing
Interestingly iPage only offer 1 shared hosting plan that comes in at an affordable, £1.47 a month when choosing an introductory 36-month plan.
Go Plan: from £1.47per month – 36 month plan
All plans come with a free SSL certificate, free domain for a year, free transfers, unlimited storage and 24/7 support.
#9. Namecheap – Best for Starter Websites
Namecheap Pros
Namecheap Cons
Namecheap Key Features
Probably more known for their domain names than web hosting plans, Namecheap has over 7,000,000 domain names in their system while also gaining traction in web hosting catering to over 3,000,000 websites. However, they hold up well against some tough competition with some average figures of (99.98%) uptime and (601ms) page loading times.
Namecheap’s features include a free domain name, SSL Certificate, 20GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, 3 websites, and easy-to-use website builders. Access to their 24/7 customer support can be used through live chat, and with 1-click installs of applications like WordPress, it makes creating a website pretty simple. Namecheap uses cPanel with easy features to control your website through the control panel.
Namecheap Pricing
Namecheap’s ‘Stellar’ plan includes a 30-day money-back guarantee will give you enough time to try out the service and if it will suit your website needs.
Stellar: from £1.06 per month – 24 month plan
Stellar Plus: from £1.80 per month – 24 month plan
Stellar Buisness: from £3.27 per month – 24 month plan
All plans come with a free SSL certificate, free domain name, free transfers, free website builder and a 30 day money back guarantee.
#10. 123-Reg
123-Reg Pros
123-Reg Cons
123-Reg Key Features
123-Reg is a UK-based hosting provider, which may work great for you and your website to access specific EU datacenter locations. They have a good uptime figure (99.97%) but page loading times of 891ms properly sit them towards the bottom of our web hosting list, in the eyes of performance. However, they offer a good range of features, including a free domain name, 100GB storage, 1-click WordPress installs, unlimited bandwidth, and access to customer support via live chat or phone.
123-Reg Pricing
123-Reg offer their plans on 12-month contracts only, which can help you keep track of your budget and know your ins and outs. They offer a great range of other features outside of web hosting, like a domain name registrar, email hosting for if you want a professional email, but without having a website and a ‘Make Me a Website’ service, they will build you a website.
Standard: from £3.99 per month – 12 month plan
Pro: from £5.99 per month – 12 month plan
Ultimate: from £7.49 per month – 12 month plan
All plans come with unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, hosting for unlimited websites and money back guarantee.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Cheap Web Host
When choosing the best cheap hosting, there are a few factors to consider. Understanding your needs about the website you want to create and deciding how much time, effort, and money you’re willing to sacrifice to succeed.
Upon thinking of those factors, to break it down further, consider asking yourself these questions as well:
Who is Cheap Hosting Ideal For?
Cheap hosting is ideal for anyone looking to create an online presence. If you’re looking to start a website for your small business, personal blog, or a portfolio, for example, cheap hosting is a great choice.
As shared hosting is more suited to low traffic websites, it will work well for whatever website you choose to run while maintaining the server’s resources shared between other website users. A little run down on the types of websites you can create are:
Is Cheap Hosting a Wise Choice?
Yes! Many people who create a website on a cheap shared hosting plan find out it suits their needs perfectly. So many hosting providers offer such great features in their cheapest plan, so you really do not need to upgrade.
Cheap hosting is a great way to get a feel for how your website will look on the internet and all the processes of what happens behind the scenes of your website.
Hosting providers offer knowledgeable customer support, and you have so much control over your website the whole time, it’s like owning a little slice of the internet!
The Advantages of Cheap Web Hosting
The Disadvantages of Cheap Web Hosting
The Final Verdict
Who is the Best Cheap Web Hosting UK Provider?
All in all, the hosting providers listed are great choices for UK users looking for the best and cheapest hosting for their website.
Finding the best one that will work for you, your budget and website needs will all come down to differing factors, however now you’ve got a solid list all in the one place; you should have no hassles.
However the web host provider that offers the best value for money is Hostinger, so what are you waiting for, go and get that website online!
Our Best Overall Cheap Web Host!
FAQ’s
